Romans 5:2
Every claim of being justified must be confirmed by the fruit one bears. The first fruit that results from justification is peace with God, and following this is a life of holiness. Any doctrine that presents justification in such a way that makes light of sin, to the extent that people sin without fear is another gospel.
In justification, man's need for peace with God is satisfied, and God's demand for holiness are satisfied. Peace with God is made possible only by the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. To depend on one's own good works for obtaining peace with God is, to say the least, a futile exercise.
What then is holiness? "Holiness is conformity to God’s image. The perfect likeness of God, to which we are to be assimilated, is seen in Christ, who “loved righteousness, and hated iniquity.” A holy man, therefore, is not one who merely refrains from sin, nor yet one who strives to obey all God’s commands; he may do all this, and yet be utterly without holiness. But he is one who has become partaker of that Divine nature which was in Christ, the instinct of which it is to hate what God hates, and to love what He loves."
I have found the above quoted passage most explicit regarding what holiness means. Holiness, as a principle, cuts off all striving to be pleasing to God in the arm of the flesh. Holiness, we may say, is the consequence deriving from our union with Christ. It is a disposition to be pleasing to God created in us by the Holy Spirit. When justification takes place, this disposition results. It is indeed strange for this disposition to be absent in one who claims to have been justified. When a person understands what it cost Jesus to make justification possible, living a holy life becomes his show of gratitude to Him for saving him.
Toni
